Two runners-up for a potential $13 billion tank closure contract at the Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state filed protests Wednesday with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Hanford Tank Closure Co. and Tank Closure Partnership LLC both objected to DOE’s May 14 award to Hanford Works Restoration, which is comprised of BWX Technologies, Fluor, and two smaller firms, Intera and DBD.
Hanford Tank Closure is led by Atkins, with Amentum and Westinghouse as minority partners, an Atkins spokesperson confirmed by email Thursday but declined to provide any specifics on the nature of the protest.
Amentum is the lead in incumbent radioactive waste tank manager Washington River Protection Solutions, with Atkins the minority partner. The current vendor, which has a $7.8 billion agreement that dates to October 2008, is scheduled to stay on the job through Sept. 30.
Jacobs is believed to lead Tank Closure Partnership, which might also include Honeywell and Perma-Fix Environmental Services, according to sources. A spokesperson for Jacobs could not immediately be reached for comment. Jacobs Chairman and CEO Steve Demetriou has spoken of his company’s interest in the business in past earnings calls with Wall Street analysts.
A spokesman for Perma-Fix declined to comment Thursday.
A ruling should be made on the bid protests by Sept. 4, according to the Government Accountability Office website. Details of the protests are generally not made public until the congressional auditor issues its written decision.
The BWXT-led Hanford Works Restoration proposal was selected as the best value based on key personnel, technical and management approach, past performance, and cost, DOE said earlier this month.
Lynchburg, Va.-based BWXT declined to comment on the bid protests Friday. The company has the unfortunate distinction of leading the last joint venture to have a major DOE Office of Environmental Management contract award effectively overturned by the GAO.
In February 2018, the GAO upheld a bid protest against the $4.7 billion Savannah River Site liquid waste management award to Savannah River EcoManagement, comprised of BWXT, Bechtel, and Honeywell. The Government Accountability Office found DOE failed to properly vet the technical basis behind the award, prompting the cleanup office to seek refreshed bids. The Energy Department would eventually cancel the procurement.
The Energy Department has yet to issue a new long-term contract for a new liquid waste management vendor at the South Carolina facility.
The tank closure contract is the third multibillion-dollar deal awarded by the Energy Department at Hanford since early December. The other two – a site services contract won by a Leidos-led group and the Central Plateau remediation contract to a venture led by Amentum – withstood protests to the GAO.
About 56 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste left over from decades of plutonium production is stored inside 177 aging underground tanks at Hanford. The contracted work includes managing and closing old tanks and preparing low-activity waste for vitrification at the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel.
The Hanford tank vendor must oversee operation of the 200 Area single-shell tank farms, the double-shell tank farms, the 242-A Evaporator, Liquid Waste Processing Facilities, Liquid Effluent Retention Facility, and the Effluent Treatment Facility, among other facilities.
